Before the End of the World
by EricFancier
Summary: "What he truly needs from Eric is for him to not be in pain. To not be as affected as he is. He needs the impossible." Eric does not understand. Godric tries making him to. Set at the end of S2E08. Godric/Eric, adult themes.


**A/N: This is the saddest thing I have written in a long time. I blame it all on Christian Kjellvander. The first four sentences of his song "Somewhere else" is what made this fic spur into life. Hope you like it.  
**

Before the End of the World

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Suddenly, there is a stir in the flow. The faraway images fade, and little by little, the soft music and the lair return to him. His thoughts had been drifting again. Godric lifts his head slowly, coming back. Everything appears to be exactly as it should. He notices Isabelle across the room. She wants to go to him, but for some reason decides not to and walks away. He already knows her intention; to thank him yet again for the controversial verdict. She is not the cause of the stir. The stir; tall and blond and ashen pale, enters the room only moments later and silently motions the guests inside to leave. Godric's right hand contracts slightly around his left one in his lap. _Eric_.

"Hugo has been dispatched. I told him not to stop driving until he reaches the Mexican border."

Eric speaks softly as he crouches down beside him, intently seeking his makers gaze. It's a triviality, empty information, far from what he really wants to say. Still, Godric nods, and when he turns to him, Eric tries a smile.

"I've arranged for an AB negative human for you… extremely rare."

"Thank you… I'm not hungry." Godric answers. It's strange how thick his voice is.

"You'll have to feed eventually… I doubt the Fellowship had anything to offer."

Eric smiles, but he is at loss and he knows it. He thought that he had come up with some sort of remedy… Godric looks away again. How could he possibly tell him that there is none, not for this? He says nothing. Eric's face darkens as each trace of a smile fade from his lips. The air in the secluded spot he created for them is heavy with all the unspoken words.

"Why wouldn't you leave when I first came for you?" Eric mouths quietly.

"They didn't treat me badly. You would be surprised at how normal most of them are."

Godric speaks blankly, still avoidant though it's almost too hard by now. He senses Eric seizing to listen about halfway through. The blonde vampires gaze drops to the floor as he shakes his head. When he looks up at Godric again his jaw is strained and his brow furrowed.

"You think that I am clueless, don't you?" he says lowly. "You think that I am blissfully unaware to what's going on…-"

Godric closes his eyes and murmurs his name, but Eric has already started to rise and in an instant, the sphere is broken. He is so tall next to him, his impressive frame casting shadow as he towers over Godric. His eyes are like frozen marbles when Godric locks his own with them, trying wordlessly to calm him down. To stop him. But this time, his efforts are in vain. Eric's expression doesn't change even the tiniest fraction. Only his back slants as he turns and walks firmly towards the rear of the lair, out the open doors leading into the backyard, turning several heads as he passes through a group of guests. Godric watches him leave over the edge of his shoulder. By the skin of his teeth, Eric manages to maintain his composed surface, but everything inside of him is at complete upheaval. Godric can feel it like a tearing strain on the bond. This is not good. There are too many people around and the mix is dangerous. He needs Eric amongst them if there is a disturbance… All of a sudden, Godric is close to laughter. He is fooling himself all over again, though the time of denial is long gone. What he _truly_ needs from Eric is for him to not be in pain. To not be as affected as he is. He needs the impossible. Emitting a short sigh, Godric rises, his eyes resting on the invisible path between his chair and the doors. He had been hoping that it would not come to this, and yet it has.

He finds Isabelle in the kitchen and instructs her to hold the fort. She obeys quietly and quickly positions herself in the center of the living room, where her field of vision is the widest. For a brief moment Godric watches her, hesitating. Then, he starts skimming through the lair, through the music and the warm lights, past his chatting and laughing visitors, out to the backyard doors, the same way Eric went.

The unwavering, solid calmness that he has experienced over the last couple of weeks is as if blown away, and he is not entirely sure how to deal with it. He had promised himself to be strong, stronger perhaps than he had ever been, and yet a single string of words from his child has the power to completely stump him. A faint curl appears in the corner of Godric's mouth though his chest is cringing at the same time. Oh, Eric… _Of course_ he knows. He has probably known it nearly as long as Godric himself. He has underestimated the bond though he really should know better by now. The closer Eric had gotten to him, ever since he tried to collect him from the Fellowship the first time, the louder Godric's thoughts must have resounded inside his mind. Godric steps out onto the porch, feeling the rigid stone against his feet. The door slides close with a faint thump behind him, cutting off all sounds from the lair as he looks up and starts to walk across the grass, towards the small grove where Eric is. The sky is stripped of stars and only a few weak rays from the thin crescent moon manage to seep through the clouds. The yard is nearly pitch-black but Godric's nostrils are brimming with Eric's scent. He stops, lingering for a fraction of a second, as if to prepare himself.

"It's the bond."

Eric had been standing with his back towards him, leaning his arms against a tree with his head bent down. As Godric speaks he turns around sharply, his forced composure crumbled to dust, his hair on end, his blue eyes piercing through the darkness.

"I don't need the _bond_ to know!" he spits, his shoulders tense with all the built-up pressure.

Godric remains silent, watching as Eric breaks free from the shadows, closing the distance between them to mere inches. His face is irate.

"I can see it happening right in front of me. I can hear it, taste it, smell it. Everything about you says you're leaving. You are leaving, it screams to me, you are leaving for good and I…"

Eric trails off, and Godric knows that he is waiting for him to reject his allegations. When he doesn't, Eric's expression transforms into something that Godric dreads a thousand times more than his anger. He watches him back down and shrink, lowering his hands, his inquiring gaze increasingly desperate. Slowly, Godric walks all the way up to him so that they almost touch. He feels Eric's short breath against his temple as the taller vampire leans into him.

"Why…?" Eric breathes heavily.

Godric looks up at him steadily for a brief moment, and then lets his gaze wander past his shoulder and up towards the black sky. Somewhere in the distant, crickets are chirping.

"It was a night just like this one." he says. "Cloudy and cold. The chilly air was soothing on your bruised skin."

Eric's eyes widen a little, his mouth opening to bare the tips of his fangs that had been slightly protruded during his outburst. Then, he relaxes and sinks slowly down to his knees in front of Godric. Godric's gaze becomes veiled as he lets the old images surround him.

"I had been following you for almost a year. Shadowing you. I hadn't been able to bring myself to take you yet. My fascination for all your undertakings was too great. Then came the night when the decision was made on my behalf. The fields reeked of blood, the fires were dancing, everywhere was chaos. I was beside myself with feral lust. I ran like mad across the grounds, quenching my thirst, giving in to my every whim. And then, I felt you."

Godric looks down at Eric at his feet, quiet and unmoving, his eyes fixed on Godric's lips.

"You were on the brink of death. I watched them build the pyre from the woods. Afterwards all they could do was wait for it to happen, and so they did. Your ever fading heartbeat was like a crescendo in my ears. You seemed calm, but your whole being was in prayer. You were calling every god you knew the name of, hoping they'd somehow let you live. You did not want to die. I felt it so strongly. You did not want to die, and from that moment on you were mine. I had found myself in you. I have never been, and will never be, so much alive as I was during our times."

Silence falls over the yard again. Eric's head is bent down. Gently, Godric lowers himself to the ground as well, his knees welcoming the soft touch of the grass. Like this, the two of them are almost equal in height.

"It has come to an end." Godric murmurs. "My time is up."

Eric's eyes fly open. Their corners are tinted with crimson tears.

"No…!" he stutters.

Godric leans forward, aligning their foreheads softly, feeling him shudder.

"I love you." he whispers.

"_Fuck_…!" Eric groans, but it's more of a sob than an actual word.

Godric closes his eyes as Eric wraps his strong arms around him, and when his hands clutch at his shirt, Godric holds on to him, feeling his huge shoulder blades beneath his palms, hiding his face against his neck. Eric's pain is like a sharp dagger to his chest, it's wrenching and terribly real and now, it's his own as well. He feels a hot tear stain the shell of his ear. Eric's breath moves across his cheek and at once, their lips are touching. The kiss is like a strike of lightning, inevitable. It's Eric's initiative but Godric follows him almost instantly, answering his vehemence first slowly, then with an increasing heat. Eric's fingers tangle in his hair, pulling him closer and they melt together, chest against chest. Blood smears Godric's cheeks but he is no longer sure if the tears are Eric's or his own. He feels the taller vampire's hardness digging into his hip and his fangs leap alive, scraping Eric's lips slightly, making him moan low in his throat as he rubs against him. Godric's hands sneak behind the cotton layer to roam Eric's chest, touching him everywhere they can reach. Somehow Eric has managed to light the last remaining streak of lust inside of him. His mind has escaped the pain and instead he is wrapped up in the memory of their first nights together. How Eric would feed on his victims until their last drop and then become completely besieged by another hunger, so powerful that he didn't know what to do with it… Eric has pushed his shirt away, his lips are on his neck now and Godric gasps as he kisses him hard enough to almost draw blood. His right hand finds its way down Eric's jeans, grabbing him, and Eric's fangs skim his shoulder as he groans.

The tall grass surrounds them as they collapse down onto it, aligning their tense bodies, seeking refuge in each other's arms. One of Eric's hands grasps Godric's hip, the other strokes him through his pants and Godric is throbbing hard, he can't remember how long it's been since but he feels it so much that he is slightly overwhelmed. He hears himself groan as Eric speeds up, his fingers circling the sensitive tip of his cock. A sudden strike of fervor leaps through him like the lash of a whip and he shoves Eric's hand away, climbing on top of him. Eric throws his head back, his chest rising as Godric takes him into his wet mouth, swallowing inch after inch of his aching flesh. He is shuddering, both of them are, trembling with all the build-up, all the things that hurt, everything that now is out in the open. Godric feels Eric twitching in his mouth, his vision is blackening by the throbbing in his groin and he knows that there is no time.

He releases the hard flesh from his mouth, drawing a strangled groan from Eric. In the flutter of a second, he mounts him, seizing him with one thigh on each side of his hips, driving his pelvis down and forward, forcing their erections together. He leans down and lets Eric grab his waist for support, and at once it is like the thousand years never passed at all. They are just like they were, master and apprentice, maker and child, locked to each other in irate passion. Godric leans in, licking the blood off Eric's cheek, gasping as they rub together harder and faster. He tangles one hand in Eric's blond mane, feeling him tense as he pushes his head to the side. When Eric cums, his jerking hips pulling Godric over the edge with him, Godric's mouth is buried in his neck, his mouth open and his fangs just barely touching the spot where the wound once was.

They sit for a while on the patch of flattened grass, side by side, without speaking. Eric rests his hands on his knees, gazing into faraway space. Godric eyes are wandering the dark sky again. The moon is completely hidden now, making them as good as invisible from a distance. A brittle tranquility has returned to Godric though the pain is still there.

"What am I supposed to do?" Eric says, his voice hardly more than a whisper.

Godric turns to him, facing his despair straight on, his features warming up. He puts one of his hands on Eric's shoulder.

"You are going to continue being one of the strongest, most reckless, deadly charismatic vampires there are to be found in this country. You will conquer and ravage and you will love it like I know you do. You will always have my blood, and you will be alright."

Eric's eyes are still wide with grief, but his tears are gone and when Godric smiles faintly, he is almost completely sure that he sees Eric doing the same. He leaves him there, adjusting his shirt as he walks back towards the lair, the lights and the sounds. Eric's gaze in his back is like a physical caress. Just as he opens the door Eric speaks, and though it's much too low for any mortal to hear, Godric hears it with every part of his body.

"You were the answer to my prayers."

_fin_


End file.
